


The One You Once Loved Is Leaving

by Elliada



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Tragedy, Harry Potter & Tom Riddle Attend Hogwarts Together, Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M, Slytherin Harry Potter, Tom Riddle is Not Voldemort, Tom never became Voldemort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 06:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17360711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elliada/pseuds/Elliada
Summary: “Aren't you afraid sometimes, Tom?” Harry asked one day out of the blue, face hidden behind a book.If Tom was surprised by his question, he showed no sign of it. He simply put his blue eyes on Harry, looking for the slightest sign of irony if ever there was any.“Why is that, Harry?” he pursed his mouth in an amused smirk. “Should I be?”





	The One You Once Loved Is Leaving

**Author's Note:**

> Title inspired by the amazing song 'Now the one you once loved is leaving' by Lydia.  
> Hope you enjoy, reviews are always welcomed! :)

“Aren't you afraid sometimes, Tom?” Harry asked one day out of the blue, face hidden behind a book. 

Hogwarts library was deathly calm as usual, not even a single bug flew to break the silence. Both boys were working on an assignment they had to turn in next week, a translation of a hundred years old runes' text, and an analysis of its content. As expected, Tom was almost finished, but Harry made no comment about how could he knew this and that, and if Tom wasn't sure to actually eat books instead of reading them.

If Tom was surprised by his question, he showed no sign of it. He simply put his blue eyes on Harry, looking for the slightest sign of irony if ever there was any.

“Why is that, Harry?” he pursed his mouth in an amused smirk. “Should I be?”

Harry raised his head, finally making eye-contact with the other boy. “No reasons, I was just wondering, you know. If one day you were about to lose something truly precious to you, then realizing you were unable to save it...” He stopped for a second. “What would you do?”

Tom put his quill on the wooden table, hand on his chin in a thinking manner. “Hmm. What would you expect me to do?”

A question averted by another, how characteristically of Tom. Harry rolled his eyes amusingly, if he wanted to play...

“Oh, I don't know...” Harry said with a false astonishment and a mischievous gleam in the eyes. “Probably running away. Yes, that would do.”

The answer was quite immediate, and Harry barely kept himself from bursting out laughing. Even with false pretense, Tom could hardly bear the implication that fleeing a threat was an option. His eyebrows furrowed deeply, and Harry swore he saw his jaw clenches slightly. But he regains his composure quickly, and silently stood up of his seat to move next to Harry. 

Tom walked just like a feline, softly and slowly, with a smirk once again on his face. Harry swore that the atmosphere of the room had changed, somehow heavier, more imposing. He sat still as Tom leaned close to his ear, his familiar scent tickling his nostrils.

“You could have fooled me.” he whispered.

This time again, the player had changed side.

* * *

The thunder rumbled as the rain raged, wind waving everything in its path. In the distance, footsteps echoed in the deluge, hurried footsteps, and two frantic bodies.

“Harry!” Tom shouted to be heard, the other boy in his arms. “Keep counting, and do not close your eyes!”

They had been attacked, Harry had been hit, Tom had failed to protect him, he thought bitterly. It took a second, a single second of inattention for everything to be played out. They had got rid of the assailants, but the damage was done, and Harry's blood spilling slowly from his body was there to remind him that. In a fight, no respite was granted, no moment of inattention was tolerated. 

If Tom had been faster, if he has managed to reach Harry on time, if only—

“Tom.” Harry suddenly called weakly, “Tom.”

Tom stopped immediately in his race, a race against the clock already lost. He knelt against a tree and put Harry down as gently as he could. Even soaked to the skin, the red that dyed their clothes did not disappear. On the opposite, it seemed to only spread more and more. Tom wanted it to go away, he wanted Harry to get up and grin stupidly again as if nothing had happened. He didn't know how to treat a gaping wound in the stomach, how to process, damn—

He didn't know? Tom Marvolo Riddle _didn't know_? Was it a kind of joke, because if it were...

“Harry.” He let escape, pleading for the first time in his life. “Please, just stay with me. I will find something out.”

But his words didn't convince any of the two. Harry knew, they both knew it was his end, their end. Harry would have wished so much to go back, to shake his own self so as not to make the mistake that was now fatal to him. He had never shown any lack of concentration when he used magic, he took things seriously, he knew the dangers of some spells and curses. So why? Harry didn't want to leave, to leave Tom. He didn't want to die. Fear tugged at his stomach, mixing with the agonizing pain of his wound, but he forced himself to remain courageous no matter what.

He called Tom one last time, begged him to kiss him one last time, to feel his warmth and the lips he loved so much one last time. And Tom, this time, didn't play. He didn't delight himself by trailing his lips on Harry's soft skin until they finally reach their destination in a kiss. He pressed his mouth firmly against Harry's, desperately, bitterly, painfully.

The thunder burst again, this time stronger than before.

Tom thought back to that winter afternoon, when Harry had asked him this stupid question.

_“If one day you were about to lose something truly precious to you, then realizing you were unable to save it... What would you do?”_

At the same time, they parted. Harry lifted his emerald eyes and locked them on Tom's. He smiled, raised his hand heavily and slowly to cup the other boy's face. Then, a few long seconds later, it was over. Harry's arm touched the floor, his now lifeless body pressed against Tom.

Tom didn't even have the strength to scream, or to burn the forest to free his fury. He squeezed his teeth so hard that they creaked under the force, his eyes stung and itched, and new salty water rolled down his cheeks to mix with the pouring rain. Erasing any sign of what Tom would have called 'weakness'.

“What would I do?” He repeated Harry's words for himself.

“I would destroy the world for you.”


End file.
